Fundamentals: Virtual Machine Backups

Jasmine McTigue09/02/11

Virtually Protected: Key Steps To Safeguarding Your VM Disk Files

Comprehensive backup of virtual machines requires administrators to capture two different sources of data. The first is the critical data from the applications running inside the VM, such as a database or sales tool. The second is the disk files that make up the actual VM. By taking backups of the disk files, IT can easily restore known-good configurations of VMs, either to load onto a fresh server or to recover a VM because of a glitch or outright disaster.

IT administrators must perform both types of backups, but in this report we focus on strategies for backing up a VM’s disk files.

But while backups are an essential part of a robust operation, they aren’t the only component. As more VMS are used to run production applications, IT must build out highly available, fault-tolerant environments. Such environments can continue operations in the face of software or hardware failures. (S2260211)